30 Days Wild 2022 - Day 3 - In The Night Garden

 

 Yes, it's the third day in a row in the garden but this time it's a bit different. No, it doesn't involve Igglepiggle or the Ninky Nonk but it does involve Bats, Moths and Hedgehogs 😊🦇🦋🦔

 With the weather staying drier and less breezy but still a bit on the chilly side for this time of year, I decided to put out the Moth light in the garden.

 

 Whilst awaiting the arrival of our Lepidoptera I switched on the Bat detector to see if the Moth's nemesis were also out and about.

 Throughout the 90 minutes I had the detector on, it picked up 4 fly-bys of our flying mammals. With the detector set at 45kHz and due to the area our garden is in, the most likely culprit of the clicking signal picked up is the Common Pipistrelle.

I caught some of it on video for you to hear.

 We hardly ever cut our grass at the back and leave it as long as possible to grow with whatever wildflowers arise so if in the garden after dark we have to tread carefully to avoid these 2 which are regulars. They are usually snuffling around in the long grass for the food we have put out and intermittently huffing at each other.

 The main reason to spend the night in the garden is to see what Moths have our garden on their flightpath. With us now at the start of June I did hope to see a few Hawkmoths about but no such luck last night. There were still 64 moths though of 27 species identified. Below are some photos of a few of last night's visitors.

                                             Lesser Swallow Prominent

                                                        Buff Ermine

                                                      Peppered Moth

                                                      Small Magpie

                                                          Brimstone

                                                Common White Wave

                                                         Treble Lines

                                                           Cinnabar

                                                               Snout

                                                    Brown Silver-lines

                                                          Purple Bar

 It's amazing what wildlife frequents our urban gardens throughout the nights. There will probably be more moths in the weeks to come.

Thank you again to all who have taken the time to have a quick browse through my wildlife blog, it is very much appreciated and I hope you all have a great day surrounded by our wonderful Natural world.

Stay safe.

Kindest regards

Stuart

#30dayswild #wildlifetrust #leidoptera #moths #bats #hedgehogs #gardenfornature #britishwildlife  #connectwithnature #lovenature #lovelife  

 

30 Days Wild:Day 24 - Life After Dusk

                                         











  I didn't do much during today as had to start packing things away as it was our last day in Pembrokeshire but we did pop to Tenby for lunch and a quick walk along the beach.

        
  The main action of Day 24 happened after dark.The Moth trap and the trail camera were both set up.
A few more new moths for the week.
Brown China Mark

Gold Swift

Lackey

  Checking the SD card from my trail camera it was found to contain 38 film files, all between 11.50pm and 1.20am so I knew it wasn't just the Magpies eating the food in the morning.
  The young Fox had reappeared in the garden after spotting him in daylight the day before.

A Badger was also filmed numerous times sweeping up the peanuts and jam.

I think my Badger Spy Cam got rumbled ;)

  A great end to a fantastic week in Pembrokeshire and I have to say a massive Thank You to John and Carol for allowing us to shine a bright Moth Trap in their garden and leave food on the lawn for the Badgers which I know dig up his garden lol.

  Up to Gigrin Farm, Rhayader next and the Red Kites :)

30 Days Wild:Day 22 - Peregrines At The Bridge

                                                                   










  On Day 22 we had a few hours at the South coast of Pembrokeshire known as Green Bridge.Following tips and extra info on the area from fellow 30 Days Wild blogger Sandra Evans(catch up with her blog on the link below) and my friend and host John.
http://sands30dayswild.blogspot.co.uk/

  We had planned to go earlier but had to wait for the Military to let us in.It's a place where you have to call the visitor centre in Pembroke or the firing range to find out if it is open and safe to drive through the area without having your car blasted off the road by a Tank shell ;) We were told we would be safe from 4.30pm so off we went.It seemed quiet enough despite the presence of the Army personnel with M16 rifles.

 The site is called Green Bridge due to the natural limestone arch on the coast.

  The rest of this coastline isn't bad either ;)

  As you might be able to make out on the photo above there were thousands of seabirds, mainly Guillemots with a few Razorbills and the odd Puffin doing a fly by.
  Guillemots

  There were quite a few Butterflies on the wing with Small Heath, Painted Lady & a few Dark Green Fritillarys(pic below)

  In the distance something caught my eye and immediately I knew it was a Raptor.

  We hurried in that direction to hopefully get closer views and were treated with a fantastic display as a Male Peregrine circled us calling while his offspring was having his maiden flight from the nest. I told Majella I thought that was what was happening and fortunately we bumped into the monitor who was checking up on them and she confirmed I was correct(for a change).

  Back at base I also trapped some new Moths in the garden.
Yellow Barred

Lilac Beauty (my 1st ever)

Lobster Moth

Green Silver-lines

Marbled White Spot

 Add to this a Fox turning up on my trail cam in the garden and all the work John has done is paying off as his own personal Nature Reserve is producing amazing wildlife :)

  Tune in to Day 23 for Puffins on Skomer.

30 Days Wild:Day 19 - Moth Invasion!!

                                                                

  Day 19 in Pembrokeshire was a very wet day, rain all day and quite blustery.Luckily though I had set the Moth trap up the night before so despite the wet weather I got up just before 5am and went to check the trap.

  There were moths everywhere, on the walls, on the shed, in the grass and the trap was filled with them :) Rain doesn't always ruin a moth night and can sometimes be quite helpful, its the wind which usually makes things a bit moth-less.

  I counted and photographed 51 species(don't worry I won't post them all ;)) but there were hundreds more I couldn't pot as I ran out of pots long before Moths.So here are some of the best from yesterday.

  Ghost Moth (female)

  Small Fanfoot 

  Buff Arches 

  

Peach Blossom 

  Purple Clay 

  Scallop Shell 

  Beautiful Golden Y

  Buff Tip

  Burnished Brass 

  Grey Arches

  Barred Straw

  Clouded Silver

  Beautiful Carpet 

  Knot Grass

  Peppered Moths

  Drinker Moth

   Brussels Lace

  Blood-vein

  Light Emerald

  Pebble Prominent 

  Campion

  Grey Dagger

  Elephant Hawkmoths 

  Poplar Hawkmoth

  That is just half of the species that came to light yesterday, many of them probably feed around your garden during the night, we just don't see them like we do Butterflies and we definitely don't appreciate them as much.If anyone ever says Moths are dull just show them a couple of my photos to prove them wrong ;)